The Tanuki and the Fox
by Mystic Deadman
Summary: Two clans. Two ninja. One mission. What could possibly go wrong? Except everything, that is.


**Fantasy Strike is a fighting game developed by David Sirlin and Sirlin Games. After several years of development, it finally saw a full release last month on PC and consoles and supports cross-platform play. It's a "simplified" fighting game that draws heavy inspiration from the Street Fighter franchise, which makes sense because Sirlin was the lead designer for SSFII Turbo HD Remix.**

**It's as "pick-up-and-play" as a fighting game could possibly be, and it's amazingly fun. I highly recommend picking up the game and having yourselves a blast.**

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"Wait, what?"

Ibuki sat in the middle of a wide open room in the Temple of the Grandmaster of the Glade of Ninja, her legs tucked under her. She hated this part of her mission briefings. She'd always get called in for something. Usually, it was to check in on her life outside the Glade. Despite the Grandmaster's apprehension when it came to letting Ibuki have aspects of her life outside the clan, she also served as a source of outside information when needed. Other times, she'd be ordered to carry out a mission of some sort. In those cases, it was usually to either dig up some dirt on a potential future target, or maybe help plan some infiltration or ex-filtration routes for teams that were getting ready to carry out some dirty work.

And then there were times like this one, where she felt like they called her in just to torture her. Times where the Grandmaster and his staff felt like making her sit in an uncomfortable-as-hell position and see how long it took her to break. At one point, she'd even wondered if they took bets on how long they could make her hate everything before somebody decided to put her out of her misery.

If she was old enough, she'd find out whether that was happening and, if it was, she'd get some money out of it. New phones weren't going to buy themselves.

This time, though, it wasn't long before Master Sanjou, the man who'd been her teacher in ninjitsu since childhood, and Grandmaster Enjou entered the room. Ibuki hardly had time to squirm before her superiors made their entrances. The two took their positions in the candlelit room, Grandmaster Enjou sat on an elevated cushion with only his lower body visible to anyone in the room. Master Sanjou sat a couple of feet in front of him, letting himself be fully visible.

It was all Ibuki could do to not call the whole situation out as a corny anime setup.

Sanjou sighed, readjusting his glasses. Ibuki hated the fact that he wore them when contact lenses were a thing. He clearly practiced figuring out how to position himself in a room so that, no matter where he sat, he could manipulate the lights so that they reflected off his glasses and hid his eyes.

Not that she needed to see them now. She could tell he was annoyed by her question.

"Do I really need to explain the situation again, Ibuki?"

Ibuki squirmed again. "Uh, yes?"

Sanjou took a second.

"You have been selected among the _Genin_ in the village to participate in this task. Your assignment is to cooperate in a joint operation with the newly established Fox's Den in order to foster a relationship between our two clans. By succeeding in this mission, we can recruit a new ally and allow the Fox's Den to create a reputation for themselves. This is a mutually beneficial assignment that we believe you are capable of accomplishing."

Ibuki scratched at her chin in confusion. "Okay, that much I get, but why _me_?"

"Because," Grandmaster Enjou answered from his seat hidden in the room's shadows, "This is being done as a personal favor between the Grandmaster of the Fox's Den, Jade Fox, and myself."

"You know their Grandmaster?"

"I do," Enjou shifted slightly, making Ibuki wonder if he was uncomfortable too, "Jade Fox and I were both raised in this village. We learned the ways of ninjitsu together. When we came of age and gained the rank of Jonin, we were given a choice. We could remain in the village and continue to work for the Glade, or we could strike out on our own and live a life in the world around us. It should be obvious which path Jade Fox and I chose."

"Okay, I can see that," Ibuki said, cringing slightly. She could feel one of her legs going numb under her. "But why would she leave the Glade and start her own clan? Why not just, I dunno, build a team in the Glade?"

Grandmaster Enjou chuckled at the question. "Jade Fox was an exceptional athlete. Her skill as a ninja was among the top of our class in the physical aspects, but she often butted heads with her superiors when it came to the moral side of things. She often argued against getting involved in battles or assassinations in a world that was clearly moving away from such activities. Our elders at the time disagreed, positing that losing sight of traditional ways would mean the end of the Glade of Ninjas. She argued that keeping some tradition while adjusting to the evolving world around us would allow us to grow without growing stagnant. Mostly, she hated the formalities behind many of our ways.

"Most likely, not unlike the way you must think about the way we conduct these mission briefings."

Ibuki giggled at that. While Sanjou was a stickler for the rules and didn't have any sense of humor that they young ninja could see, Enjou seemed like he was a little more laid back.

"Okay, but that still doesn't answer my question. Why _me_? Why not another Genin?"

_Why not someone else so I don't have to?_

"Because," Sanjou answered, folding his arms across his chest, "The Fox's Den will be sending someone similar to you in age on this mission, and we feel that, considering they way we've heard they handle things in the Fox's Den, you might be the one who can connect with their representative."

"Wait, my age? Another teenager?"

Sanjou nodded. "Yes, another teenager. We have discussed the matter with Grandmaster Fox, and we feel that the two of you would be best suited for the mission in question."

The Grandmaster raised a hand, an unseen signal by Sanjou to stand up and approach Ibuki. He held out a scroll to the young ninja, who took it from him and unfurled it.

"These are your orders, Ibuki," Grandmaster Enjou said, "you are to meet with the Fox's Den representative in the city. Once you two have met, Jade Fox herself will brief you on the finer details of your task. Do you have any questions?"

Ibuki read over the scroll. It more or less said as much as Enjou had, but with a few extra bits of information. She mulled over it for a few seconds before replying.

"Can I pass on this one? If we're going by tradition, I _do_ get one free pass a year to skip a mission, and I haven't used mine yet?"

The Grandmaster chuckled a bit.

"Sadly, no. If it were any other mission, I would have no issue with you turning down this mission. However, as this _is _a chance to forge a new connection between clans, I'm afraid I'm going to have to deny your request.

"And besides, aren't you always going on about how we need to break from tradition every once in a while?"

For all the praise she heaped on Grandmaster Enjou because of how surprisingly relatable he could be, she hated how relatable he could be.

"Okay, fine. So, what's the Fox's Den like, then? Might help me get along with the contact if I know something about them."

Enjou shifted in his seat. "Well, for starters..."

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